Atlanta Falcons fans were treated to a relaxing weekend off this past Sunday, as the team had a mini-bye following their 20-17 win over the Saints on Thursday. However, that didn’t mean there wasn’t a reason to tune in to Sunday’s slate of games.

With the Falcons firmly entrenched in the NFC playoff picture, Dirty Bird Nation became fans of other teams, including even a division rival, for just one day in the hopes of making Atlanta’s path to the postseason as clear as possible. Well, things didn’t go exactly as planned and as a result, the NFC is as crowded as it ever has been.

The NFC South has been hyped up ever since free agency began in March.

Each of the Falcons’ rivals have made moves that will see them hypothetically improve in 2017. The Bucs had the most publicity, assembling a nasty group of targets for Jameis Winston. The Panthers added a speedy Stanford product among other names and the Saints declared their love for running the ball.

This writer still expects the Dirty Birds to claim the division title next year, but the road won’t be any easier. Here’s why.

Perhaps Bachmann-Turner Overdrive summed it up best when Falcon fandom thinks of the next two games for the Falcons.

The Canadian rock band slammed down the hard facts about their workday – they were going to take care of business before the fun began! They were even going to be working overtime. They got the job done, no matter the task (random: here’s the Christmas reimagining of that song).

So, the Falcons must channel their inner Bachman-Turner Overdrive if they’re going to be making post-New Year’s Day plans.

The team, over the last month, has been playing great football. After the bye, the team thrashed three-fourths of the NFC West and came within an Eric Berry interception of beating the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs (proof that you really, indeed, just can’t win them all). Two of those blowout victories came without otherworldly WR Julio Jones in tow (*rimshot*) because of injury …to, y’know, his toe. It’s Christmas season, folks. Just politely giggle.